Process and apparatus for making sealing rings for containers



Sept. 17, 1929. J. M.-HOTHERSALL 1,723,410

PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING SEALING RINGS FQR CQNTAINERS FiledApril 16, 1925 2 Sheets-Shee 1 W ATTORNEYS p 1929. J. M. HOTHERSALL1,728,410

PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING SEALING RINGS FOR CONTAINERS FiledApril 16, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 III/I I r ATTORN EYS Patented Sept. 17,1929 warren STATES PATENT" OFFICE JOHN M. HOTHERSALL, F BROOKLYN, NEYOBK; ssmn'on'ro AMERICAN can COMPANY, or new yonrzyn. Y., A CORPORATIONon new JnnsnY PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING SEALING RIN GSFORCONTAINERS Application filed April 16, 1325. Serial No. 23,476.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide an efficientand economical process for forming sealing rings for corn tainers,though from its broader aspects, the invention may be adapted forshaping sheet metal members or the like for other pur poses.

Another object is the provision of eliicient apparatus for the practiceof'the process.

Sealing rings of the type produced by my new process are particularlyadapted for use in closing containers in which the cover and body partsareso related as to provide a head, or false wire rim at the top, overwhich the ring maybe positioned to hold the cover in closedrelationship, said ring being removable, preferably by hand, to permitthe opening of the container.

The method of positioning the ring upon the container forms the subjectof a separate invention and the purpose of the present process istoproduce a ring of proper form and construction for use in saidfirstmentioned process. 'The invention contemplates the production, froma substantially flat blank or metalstrip, of a ring); of in VertedU-shape andhaving rolled or curled edges, the operation being performedby a single stroke of properly related die mcmbers.

Numerous other objects and advantages of the invention will. be apparentas it is bet ter understood from the following description, which, takenin. connection with the accompanying drawings, discloses a preferredembodimentthereof.

Referring to the drawings,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a sealing ring produced by the processof my inventlon;

Fig. 2 is a broken View of the blank from which the ring is produced;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of said strip arranged in circular form,which it assumes when placed between the dies preparatory to the formingstroke thereof;

Fig. i is a diagrammatic View showing the different stages ofdevelopment of the rinr: under the action of the dies;

Fig. 5 is a partial sectional View of a suitable'form of die membersused in the practice of my process, the position being that just priorto the stroke of the movable die; and i Fig. 6 is a fragmentary View ofsaid, die members upon completion of said stroke.

On the drawings, illustrating the best manner in which I have thus farcontem plated applying the principles of my invention, the referencecharacterll indicates a metal strip or blank prior to its being fed intothe dies, this blank, when arranged between the dies and prior to theoperative stroke thereof, being of the form shown in Fig. 3, with theends thereof separated by a short distance and with the top and bottomedges curved in opposite directions, as indicated at 12 and 13, the formof the blank at this stage being clearly shown at AinFigAlLfl aReferring now to Fig. 5,.it will be observed the upper edge 12 of theblank 11 is disposed at the entrance of a groove 14 provided between dieparts 15 and 16 and a forming ring 17, which latter is held in fixedrelationship to the other parts during the operative stroke thereof bymeans of rods 18 threaded at their'upper ends into said ring, asindicated at 19, and threaded at their lower ends into a plate 21, asindicated at 22, this plate being yieldably supported I upon acompressibledisk or buffer 20, of rubber or the like, it being obviousthat .a

spring might be used, if desired. separable rings 23 and 24 aireprovided on the exterior of the forming ring 17, the ring 24 beingsecured by means of screws 25 to' a bed. plate 26 supporting a block 27having a peripheral flange 28 disposed above in inwardly extendingflange 29 on the ring 17. Springs 31 are interposed between thering 23and a flange 32 at the top of the die member 15, these parts beingprovided with sockets 33 and 34 to receive the ends of said springs.Said ring; 23 is connected with the movable die unit by any suitablemeans '(notshown), so

that it is lifted off themember 24' when said unit is raised. Theconnectionis such as to permit relative downward movement of said unitafter the member 23 comes into contact,

with the top of the member 24 and it will be understood that in theremainder of the downward stroke, the forming ring 17 is held tightlyagainst the member 16 to pro- 'ide an eXact and well-defined groove 14through which the blank may pass without buckling. The movable die unitis carried on a rod and the bed plate 26 is supported upon a rod 36,both rods being suitably related to a press mechanism (not shown.)

'The groove or passage 14 terminates in a recess 37 and the members 23and 24 are cut out at the junction thereof to provide a recess 38,similar to the recess 37. The lower curved edge 13 of the strip 11 isdisposed in the recess 38 and upon downward movement of the movable dieunit, said edge 13 is first curled around the wall of the recess 38 toprovide a curl, indicated by the reference character 39 in Fig. 6, thebody of the strip beingcaused to flow through the passage 14 and theopposite edge thereof being curled in the recess 37, as indicated at 41.The springs 31 and the buffer 20 are compressed in this action and whenthe die is lifted, the completed ring, identified by the numeral 42 inFig. 1, may be removed and is ready to be applied to a container. Thesuccessive stages of development of the blank into the ring 42 areillustrated in 4, the curl 39 being first formed, the blank being thenbent to Ushape and the curl 41 being formed at the end of the stroke.

It is thought that the invention and many of its attendant advantageswill be understood from the foregoing description and it will beapparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction andar rangement of the parts, without departing from the spirit and scopeof the invention, or sacrificing all of its material advantages, theform hereinbefore described being merely a preferred embodiment thereof.

1 claim:

1. The process of forming sealing rings and the like, which consists inarranging a strip of bendable material in cylindrical form in formingmechanism provided with a curved passage of a width equal to thethickness of said material and of substantially the configuration of thearticle to be produced, and one ting pressure upon said strip to directit curvilinearly through said passage and thereby bend it in accordancewith the configuration of the passage and then bending the forwardextremity of the strip into a curl. i

2. The process of forming sealing rings and the like, which consists inarranging a strip of flat bendable material in circular form in formingmechanism provided with a passage of substantially U-shape, and er;-erting pressure upon said strip to direct it through said passage andthereby bend it in accordance with the configuration of the passagewhile the strip as a whole is maintained in circular form.

3. The process of forming sealing rings and the like, which consists inarranging a strip of bendable material in annular form in formingmechanism providd with a passage of substantially U-shape with returnportions at the ends thereof, and exerting pressure edgewise upon saidstrip to direct it through said passage and maintaining the strip insaid annular form, and thereby producing a circular closure ring ofsubstantially U-shape with curled edges arrangeable upon a container tosecure a cover to the body wall thereof.

4. The process of forming sealing rings nd the like which consists informing a rip of sheet metal into circular form, and "1811 forcing itedgewise in a sinuous curvi- 'near course, and forming the strip withcurl atits rear edge, a li shape at its inermediate part, and a curl atits advanced 'lge, and thereby producing a circular strip U-shaped incross section, with its edges curled.

5. The process of forming sealing rings and the like which consists informing a strip of sheet metal into circular form, and then forcing itedgewise in a sinuous curvilinear course, and forming the strip with a.curl at its rear edge, a U-shape at its intermediate part, and a curl atits advanced and thereby producing a circular strip U-shaped in crosssection, with its edges curled and its ends separate from each other.

6. The process of forming sealing rings and the like which consists informing a strip of sheet metal into circular form, then forming'one edgeof the strip into a substantially cylindrical curl extending around thecircle of the strip, then forcing the strip cdgewise and curvilinearlyby force applied to the completed curl and forming the strip intoU-shapc in cross section, and continuing said force to thereby form theadvanced edge of the strip into a substantially cylindrical curl, andthereby producing a circular U-shaped strip curled at both edges.

7. The process of forming sealing rings and the like which consists informing a strip of sheet metal into circular form, then forming one edgeof the strip into a substantially cylindrical curl extending around thecircle of the strip, then forcing the strip edgewise and curvilinearlyby force applied to the completed curl and forming the strip intoll-shape in cross section, and continuing said force to thereby form theadvanced edge of he strip into a substantially cylindrical curl, andthereby producing a circular U-shaped strip curled at both edges andhaving its ends separate from each other 8. The process of formingsealing rings and the li which consists in foming a ill strip of sheetmetal into circular form, then applying edgewise pressure to the rearedge of the strip only and forming said rear edge into a substantiallycylii'idrical curl extending around the circle of the strip, thenforcing the strip edgewise and curvilincarly by force applied to thecompleted curl and forming the strip into lJ-shape in cross section, andcontinuing said force to thereby form the ad anced edge of the stripinto a substantially c lindrical curl, and thereby producing a circularU-shaped strip curled at both edges and having its ends separate fromeach other.

9. The process of forming sealing rings and the like which consists informing a strip of sheet metal into circular form, then forming one edgeof the strip into a substantially cylindrical curl extending around thecircle of the strip and at the same time advancing the strip edgewiseand rcversely bending its forward edge, then forcing the strip edgewiseand curvilinearly by force applied to the completed curl and forming thestrip into ll-shape in cross section, and con tinuing said force tothereby form the advanced edge of the strip into a substantiallycylindrical curl, and thereby producing a circular U-shaped strip curledat both edges and having its ends so aarate from each other.

10. Apparatus for forming sealing rings and the like, comprisingrelatively movable die members formed to provide a lJ-shaped annularpassage of substantially the configuration of the article to be formed,movement of one of said die members being adapted to directsubstantially material in the form of an annular blank through saidpassage and thereby bend the same in accordance with the configurationof the pas 11. Apparatus for forming sealing rings and the like,comprising relatively movable die units, one thereof being formed'toprovide a U-shaped annular passage of substantially the configuration ofthe article to be produced and the other being formed to receive oneedge of substantially flat material in the form of an annular blank ofbendable material with the opposite edge arranged at the entrance ofsaid passage, whereby movement of one of said die units causes saidblankto flow through said passage and conform to the shape thereof.

12. Apparatus for forming sealing rings and the like, comprisingrelatively movable die units each formed to provide a portion of aU-shaped annular passage of substantially the configuration of thearticle to be produced whereby movement of one of said units withsubstantially flat material in the form of an annular blank arrangedwith its opposite edges disposed respectively in the portions of saidpassage in the different die units causes said blank to flow throughsaid of. I

13. Apparatus and the like, comprising relatively movable dieunits eachformed to provide a portion of a U-shaped annular passage ofsubstantially the configuration of the article to be produced wherebymovement of one of said units with substantially flat material in theform of an annular blank arranged with its opposite edges disposedrespectively in the portions of said passage in the different die unitscauses said blank to flow through said passage and conform to the shapethereof, said passage being of substantially an in verted U shape.

14. Apparatus for forming sealing rings passage and conform to the shapethere for forming sealing rings and the like, comprising relativelymovable j die units each formed to provide a portion of a U-shapedpassage of substantially the configuration of the article to be producedwhereby movement of one of said units with substantially flat materialin the form of an annular blank arranged with its opposite edgesdisposed respectively in the portions of said passage in the differentdie units causes said blank to flow through said passage and conform tothe shape thereof, said passage being of substantially an inverted Ushape and being formed atthe ends there of to produce curled edges onthe ring.

15. Apparatus for forming sealing rings and the like, comprisingrelatively movable die units forming a U-shaped annular passage andincluding shaping elements and be ing formed to engage respectively theopposite edges of substantially flat material in the form of an annularblank and, upon relative movement, to direct said blank between saidshaping elements and thereby bend it in accordance with theconfiguration thereof. I I

16. Apparatus for forming sealing rings and the like, comprisingrelatively movable die units forming a U-shaped annular passage andincluding shaping elements and being formed to engage respectively theopposite edges of substantially flat material in the form of an annularblank and, upon relative movement, to direct said blank between saidshaping elements and thereby bend it in accordance with theconfiguration thereof, said shaping elements being adapted to form theblank to substantially inverted U shape and to curl the edges thereof. 7

17. The process of forming drawn articles, which consists in arranging ablank of bendable material in forming mechanism provided with a U-shapedannular passage of substantially the configuration of the article to beproduced, and exerting pressure upon said blank to direct it throughsaid passage and thereby bend it in accordance with the configuration ofthe passage.

18. Apparatus for forming drawn articles, comprising relatively movabledie members formed to provide a U-shaped annular passage ofsubstantially the configuration of the articles to be formed, movementof one of said members being adapted to direct a blank through saidpassage and thereby bend the same in accordance with the configurationof the passage.

JOHN M. HOTHERSALL.

